Fulfilling a Client’s Passion Project – a Green Cumberland P-Lip Stem for a Peterson Meerschaum

Most of the time, pipes are sent to me because they need repairs of some kind – cracks, broken stems, or simply a good cleaning and polishing. Every now and then, however, I get a “passion project” pipe – one for which the client wants work done to customize the pipe to their particular preferences.

Today’s pipe, a Peterson Meerschaum, is just such a project. As you can see from these first images, the pipe was in very good estate condition and obviously well cared for.

The shank cap bears all of the pipe’s nomenclature. It reads “Peterson’s” over “Dublin”, then “Sterling” over “Silver” followed by a trio of silver hallmarks.

The hallmarks are Hibernia (Dublin), Crowned Harp (Sterling purity) and a date letter, “I” (1976).

The original P-Lip saddle stem was in very good condition, but the pipe’s steward wanted it replaced with something a bit more special – a Round Taper P-Lip in Green Cumberland. This pic shows the original stem over a section of some rather pretty Green Cumberland Ebonite rod.

As always when making a custom stem, I began by taking some key measurements form the original stem and sketching out the dimensions of the new stem on an index card.

This stem, like the original, will have a cylindrical push tenon rather than a true, tapered Army Mount stem, but is otherwise modelled on the Peterson AB tapered P-Lip design.

To get the ball rolling, I cut a section of Green Cumberland Ebonite rod to length, then mounted it in the lathe to make the multiple passes with a series of drill bits to create the tapered bore around which the Peterson System is based. The result is an airway that starts at 5mm diameter at the tenon end, tapering to roughly 2.4mm at the button.

Careful measuring and drilling is vital here, as the drilling is done blind. Unlike a Fishtail stem, where the airway runs straight through the end of the button, the airway in a P-Lip stem is drilled to the rear edge of the button, then finished by drilling at an angle through the top of the button. If a miscalculation is made at this stage, the entire stem could be junked.

With the airway roughed in, I turned the rod to rough diameter and cut a straight tenon in the end. This pic shows a test fit of the tenon while the rod was still in the lathe.

Bulk material removal is accomplished fairly quickly on my 1×30 benchtop belt sander. Note the masking tape guide lines on the proto-stem. These indicate the location of the airway and button.

The belt sander can get close to the final dimensions of the stem, but there is a point at which the power tools are put away and the hand tools come out. Here you can see that I’ve begun refining the shape of the stem and have roughed in the basic P-lip button.

Before I got too far ahead of myself finishing the stem, it was time to drill the airway down through the button to complete the P-Lip. This is always a somewhat tense moment, as the drilling is done freehand. If my measurements and drilling match my sketch, I should find the hidden end of the airway on the first shot. A slip-up here could mean starting over from scratch.

Thankfully, my 1/6″ drill bit hit the airway dead centre. Yay! This pic shows the angle of the final drilling.

With the hard part done, I carried on refining the contours of the stem using files and sandpapers. I’m getting close to final dimensions in these pics.

After a bit of careful work to adjust the airway at the button, the new stem passed the pipe cleaner test, ensuring the new stem will be easy to keep clean.

With the button complete, I spent some time slimming the body of the stem down to spec. This gives the stem a lighter appearance and makes it a lot easier to bend. Masking tape protected the silver shank cap from any errant file or sandpaper strokes.

When I was happy with the overall shape of the stem, I wet sanded the Ebonite to 2000-grit, then warmed the stem over the heat gun until pliable. I used the original stem as a guide for bending.

All that was left to do now was to take the new stem to the buffer to polish out the last of the sanding scratches and bring up the shine. A run on both the Red Tripoli and White Diamond wheels did the trick, while a few light coats of Carnauba wax enhanced the shine and added some UV protection for the Ebonite.

The new custom Green Cumberland Tapered P-Lip stem looks fabulous on this mid-1970s Peterson meerschaum, and I’m happy to report that the pipe’s steward is just as pleased as I am with the results. With continued care and regular maintenance, this lovely pipe should last a lifetime.

I hope you enjoyed watching this passion project develop from rough sketch to finished stem. I had a great time making it.

Until next time, Happy Piping! Here’s the finished pipe.